Almost a month after it had decreed the rape of two sisters, a 'khap panchayat' (kangaroo court) in west UP has backtracked under mounting pressure from authorities and said that the Dalit girls aged 23 and 15, who had fled the village after the diktat, were free to return and would not be harmed.
The girls have approached the Supreme Court praying for their safety and a CBI inquiry into the incident. They have been hounded out of their native Sankrod village in Baghpat district of west UP and have been hiding in Delhi for the past three months for no fault of theirs. They have been under constant threat ever since their brother eloped with a married woman from the upper caste.
Furious over the Dalit youth's indiscretion, the native panchayat, called 'khap' and dominated by the upper caste Jats in west UP, decreed that his two sisters should be raped and paraded naked through the village with their faces blackened to avenge the dishonor.
The shocking incident has gained international attention with Nadhim Zahawi, a Conservative MP in the UK taking up the issue, asking the British foreign office "to make immediate representations to Indian authorities for action to be taken to protect the two sisters."
With the Supreme Court and the Centre virtually breathing down its neck, the state government has been jolted into action. Baghpat superintendent of police Sharad Sachan told reporters that the two Dalit girls and their family had been provided adequate security.
The authorities' pressure has also compelled the panchayat to withdraw its outlandish order. In fact, the "chaudhrys" (leaders) of the panchayat are saying that no such order had been passed. "This is an attempt by elements bent upon creating tension and disrupting law and order to garner votes in the coming panchayat election," said Rameshwar Chaudhry, one of the 'panchayat' representatives.
Several prominent Jat 'Chaudhrys' interviewed in the area by 'Zee Sangam' channel said the girls and the family were "welcome" to return, and that they would not be harmed.
"They are like our own daughters," one of them said, adding that there was no casteist tension among Jats and Jatavs (Dalits) in the area. However, the tension and uneasy calm prevailing in the village might prevent the harassed family's return indefinitely.
Meanwhile, the incident is making headlines in the global media after human rights organization Amnesty International made a petition demanding action, which has already garnered about 20,000 signatures.
